Since the Hundred Hills 50k, things have been somewhat busy, hence the lack of updates here. Attention has switched towards finishing my masters, of which my final submission is due in August, followed by a Viva in September. I haven’t neglected training as a result. It is keeping up with the running that keeps my mind sane in the midst of the background noise and everything else going on in life.
My training since HH50k has been consistent, if unsexy, merely base building to this point. Aside from a few hikes with Rebecca, including a weekend in the Lakes for our third anniversary, there have been no long days in the hills, or even ventures over to Leicestershire for trail runs around Beacon Hill or Bradgate. Instead, it’s been largely tarmac miles, with any trails limited to the fields in the local villages.
I’ve slowly built back up to 50 mile / 7 hour weeks, consisting mainly of easy miles, with a weekly dose of a steady effort (top end of zone 2 HR), a hill sprint workout and a set of strides. This has worked well to build (and maintain) my base before entering a phase of intensity training, following the Uphill Athlete training methodology.
I have my eyes set on an event in Wales at the beginning of November, the Black Beacon trail races run by Run Walk Crawl. It’s called Black Beacon because it is a point-to-point race which starts / finishes in the Black Mountians / Brecon Beacons. Im fairly sure they reverse the route each year. I thought it started in Hay-on-Wye and heads west, but the website seems to have been updated to state the reverse. Either way, I’m still undecided whether I should do the 50k or the 50 mile version.
On the one hand, this event includes a huge jump in elevation from the HH50k, from 27m of climbing per km to 48 for both of the two race distances. I’m not sure if stepping up this much in both distance and vert is the ideal progression. I had a look at last year’s results and the winner of the 50 mile race finished in 09:45, with second place almost two hours behind! That’s more than double the time I took to finish the HH50k. These races are always going to be there; should I take my time in upping the distance and opt for another 50k before moving onto the 50 mile? Increase only the distance OR the level of vert at one time?
On the other hand, it’s being conservative that I often think holds me back. I’m not ‘racing’ these events, not yet anyway. I’m merely aiming to complete them in one piece, hopefully having fun in the process. Am I being too conservative by choosing a distance that I know I can cover, rather than opting for a challenge and pushing myself beyond my comfort zone? Aside from some end of race nausea, I felt like I finished the HH50k with something left in the tank. Sure, I was tired, but I wasn’t dead on my feet, questioning my life choices.
Also, in terms of time on feet, it’s not unusual for me to spend 6 hours plus in the mountains while hiking, including multi-days of almost 20 hours in total. Plus, the Black Beacon races take place 10 weeks after my final masters dissertation is due. 7 weeks after my scheduled viva. That’s plenty of time to build up some time on feet and mileage in preparation, hopefully including some time on course.
I feel like both arguments are valid and I’m not sure how I’m going to arrive at a final decision and actually enter one of the races. Either way for now, I’ll continue with the training as best as I can around my studies, aiming for a mountain ultra of some kind of distance on Saturday 1 November.
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